Energy Matters Forums

[karlajensen]

I'd like to see details RE the cars tested.

If you're talking crap mixer technology the yes agreed, but if you're talking injected or liquid phase then certainly the emissions reductions are well documented.

Get on line, can run the lawnmower on it no problem buy a kit, throw a BBQ bottle on it.

Jerry can a problem yes but the arguement that you cant get it readily enough is BS.
I drove from Melb to Darwin last year, no problem. from Melb to Perth this year, again no problem,

My car has 1300KM range with the dual fuel, not much will beat that.

Less power is a thing of the past, JTG liquid phase injection on Naturally aspirated cars is good for like with like performance. and any of the vapour injected cars the difference is undetectable.
Turbo cars gain some performance due to the intercooling effect of the phase change taking place.
in my case that was worth an additional 20KW At the wheels which is about another 10%

[zzsstt]

Just to say that I wasn't being serious with the "excuses", they are after all "excuses"!

However,

I'd like to see details RE the cars tested.

If you're talking crap mixer technology the yes agreed, but if you're talking injected or liquid phase then certainly the emissions reductions are well documented.

I do not have any experience on this, nor have I research it at all, but as always we must be aware that "well documented" by those looking on the bright side is not always the same as "real". The government paper I linked to was (1997) an independent test of typical real world cars. It was not a manufacturer run test of perfectly calibrated and freshly adjusted cars driven to suit. From memory it does make mention that (both for LPG and petrol fueled cars, if I remember correctly) tuning/calibration reduced the emissions of all the vehicles in the test.

Get on line, can run the lawnmower on it no problem buy a kit, throw a BBQ bottle on it.

I'll have to take a look. I run several Honda motors on pumps, and have never considered LPG for them. However I still suspect that dragging a barbeque tank to town to exchange it is probably more effort than it's worth when compared to a top-up from a jerry can!

Jerry can a problem yes but the arguement that you cant get it readily enough is BS.
I drove from Melb to Darwin last year, no problem. from Melb to Perth this year, again no problem,

My local town has 5 service stations of various sizes, and no LPG "pumps". The closest LPG pump adds 60km to the journey. To say that Melbourne to Darwin is no problem does not mean that LPG is readily available, it means that you drove past a large number of servo's without LPG and stopped at the ones that had it! For those people in a town without LPG, it is not readily available!

[Gordon-Loomberah]

...in my case that was worth an additional 20KW At the wheels which is about another 10%

~220KW...hmm is it some kind of monster truck? I cant imagine why anyone would need that much power in a car, given the 100km speed limits on Oz Perhaps on a German autobahn it could be handy.

[zzsstt]

I cant imagine why anyone would need that much power in a car, given the 100km speed limits on Oz

To tow my boat....?

[karlajensen]

Just a Volvo station wagon Gordon
220KW makes for swift and safe overtaking

the need is seldom but nice to have

Being just 2.3L capacity with a turbo hanging off the side simply means in daily drone you are recovering energy from the exhaust and precompressing some air making for a more efficient cycle.
when you ask some questions and ramp up that boost then remarkable power can be achieved.

Take VW's range of 1.4TSI engines, turbocharger and supercharger
reslut is remarkable kw/litre displacement and plenty of torque
(not new idea AUDI Quattro WRC cars used this idea 20+ years ago).

add this to direct injection etc etc and all of a sudden you have a cheap to run very economical car that still has plenty of poke to get you out a tight spot.

I cant wait for a decent electric car -even seriously considering building my own.
but I cant quite justify it yet (AC motors / inverters need to come down alot)

[Gordon-Loomberah]

220KW makes for swift and safe overtaking

I thought my 2005 Pug 307 2l turbo diesel had more than enough grunt with ~100kW and heaps of torque, swift and safe overtaking with it too, and I managed 5.2l/100km on a trip to Brisbane with some suburban driving, then back down the coast a bit, this week. Its a pity its been a bit unreliable in the 9 months I've owned it, and is not best suited to rough rural roads, so I may have to look for something with a bit more ground clearance for the crappy dirt road I live on. Unfortunately, that is likely to mean not so good fuel economy.

I cant wait for a decent electric car -even seriously considering building my own.
but I cant quite justify it yet (AC motors / inverters need to come down alot)

Yea, I reckon electric is the way to go if you dont have to cover long distances, or add in a small motor-generator if you do. Forget AC and inverters though! Direct drive DC is the way to go for efficiency and simplicity. DC gives you max torque at startup, unlike AC motors, which struggle to start under load.

One of these days I plan to build something for driving around my block, with some of my collection of old PV panels mounted on top. Keeping the weight down is the key, it's crazy lumping a vast weight around- such as they do with electric conversions of petrol powered cars.